Blood Bath

Chapter 39 // Tan

* 1 Week Later *

"Anything yet?" Sin growled as he put his hand on my shoulder.

I stared into the computer screen, clicking on all of my programs. I had gotten a notification that the receiver from Haven's holster had been used but it couldn't connect. I could see that she tried to contact us a week ago but there was no data attached to it. Either my technology failed again or Evin had a contact barrier. 

Evin wasn't smart enough for a contact barrier which meant it had to be the first one and that was eating at me. Con and Sin didn't say anything but I knew that they could feel it as well, I had let her down again. I couldn't understand why my technology kept failing, it never did. 

I shook my head in defeat as I clicked yet another empty data file. I was pulling at all of my training, skills, and old knowledge to figure this out. It was beyond my expertise and I knew that only one other person could figure this out than me. 

"I have to go see Landon," I said as I turned towards Sin in my chair. 

His face scrunched up in defeat as he lifted his hand from my shoulder, muttering the word fuck out into the air. Sin wanted this figured out now and I couldn't give it to him. His best tech guy couldn't get him what he needed, I wasn't sure where we would go from here. Would I continue to fail him?

"Do whatever you need Tan. The planes are available, call Jerry." he replied to me as he walked out of the door. 

The hint of sympathy in his voice reassured that things were okay. We were all under an intense amount of pressure along with the feeling of uncertainty with Haven.  Our plan was failing and we never failed. Con couldn't even face us for the past week, he was found burying himself in killing and work. 

I didn't blame him. We all were drowning. 

I unhooked my laptop and the receiver, stuffing it into a nearby backpack. I pressed my watch on my wrist, dialing in Jerry's phone number. I would only be gone for the day, I didn't have time to waste. Landon was one of my partners that I met on the deep web, he had escaped from his father's company years ago. He was supposed to become heir but ran away and hid before he was attached to that position. 

"Hey Jerry, I need a plane to Chicago." I voiced into the phone. 

"You got it, I'll send one of the cars," he said on the other side of the phone. 

I stuffed my desert eagle into my back pocket, threw my backpack on, and rushed down the stairs. Nobody was there which made the goodbyes easy, nobody stayed in the living room anymore. It felt too empty without Haven there which made us all attach ourselves to the bedrooms and offices. 

The plane ride was simple and easy, taking about four hours. We landed at the O'hare Airport in the secluded section where I took my last sip of sparkling water. I pushed another button on my watch, bringing up Landon's contact. 

"Remember that favor you promised me after I hid you out at my place for a month?" I spoke into the phone, a small smile pulling at my face. 

"A "hey there, how are you doing!" would be nice from a close friend. Yes, what's up?" Landon asked, responding with a small laugh. 

I gave him a slight chuckle back, "I'm on my way over. I just landed. Same place?" 

"You know it, see you soon." Landon replied before hanging up the phone. 

I climbed into the next black SUV waiting on the runway for me and began texting the others that I made it safely. Not like I would get a response but it was nice thinking that somebody might care once in awhile. 

Once we pulled up in front of the apartment complex, a slid a tip to the driver, and hopped out of the car. I took a deep breath as I looked up and down at the buildings. Landon lived in a small apartment where he could keep hide from his family, I always felt bad that he didn't have more but he always refused the financial help that I tried to give him. He was tired of things always being handed to him.

I hit the buzzer on his apartment number, waiting for the main gate to unlock. Once I saw the little camera move a few times, I flashed my middle finger before letting out a smile. It felt nice to smile and laugh again, I knew that Landon would be able to fix through this mess, which let down my stress for a moment. 

The gates unlocked and I strided up the concrete stairs before mirroring myself to a dark green door. I could hear the cries of the neighbor's baby, a couple arguing downstairs, and the loud police cars whizzing by. How could somebody sleep in these conditions? 

The door widened as Landon stood in the doorway, leaning up against the doorframe with a smirk. I peeked over his shoulder to see his run down studio with beat up furniture and dirty walls. It looked like he was a slob but it was just due to the small amounts of income he had, this was all he could afford. 

"I didn't know my dick was so good that you'd fly across country for it." Landon teased.

I rolled my eyes and pulled him into a slight hug, happy to be in his presence again. He took a step back and allowed to follow him into the studio, closing the door behind us. His large computer desk was scrunched up in the corner with multiple monitors and cords falling everywhere. His small kitchen was a piss colored yellow with a small mattress in the middle of it all. 

"It's not much but it's not my fathers and that's all that matters to me." He shrugged as he took a seat in his computer chair. 

"You know if you ever need anything, you can always come to us. We wouldn't even notice it gone in the bank account," I reminded him. 

He smiled but I could tell behind his eyes that he felt uncomfortable. I knew that he was trying to just live by himself without handouts. 

"Anyways, I have to get the data off this receiver. I can't figure out, it's extremely important." I say, changing the subject. 

I push the backpack to the ground and pulled out my end of the receiver, passing it towards Landon. He studied it over for a few moments before swiveling around in his chair and plugging it into his computer. 

"You tried Anom?" he questioned, gesturing towards one of our coded programs.

"Everything man, legit everything." I sighed. 

"Let me try Airflow, it's a new one that I coded. I was about to send it over to you but it's not completely finished." he said, typing away. 

I paced around the room for a few moments, manifesting that something good would come out of this. I stood around for about an hour, listening to the mutters and grunts of Landon working away. 

"Got it!" he finally yelled from his chair. 

I raced over to his side, kneeling down as he played the data clip. As soon as I heard her voice, my heart froze, my eyes widened, and my chest heaved. I missed that voice, I missed her scent, I missed her. I could hear her screaming into the microphone, calling out our names as we didn't respond. 

Finally, what we needed came to play. "I hate you all. He is coming for you, he is taking Metric. Two weeks, you have tw-" she screamed out. 

I waited for the clip to end but it didn't. A new voice came in from behind her, ""You know, I began to think maybe my suspicions were wrong. There is no way such a beautiful girl could obey to such useless men, right? My suspicions were wrong, you do obey like a little whore."

Ryker.

My body began vibrating with fear, needing to call Sin straight away. I stood up and faced towards Landon, a heavy sob clinging onto my throat. 

"Send the data files to me, I have got to go." I said firmly to him, grabbing my backpack and the receiver up again. 

He nodded as I headed towards the door where I stopped myself. 

"Thank you." I said as I walked back out to the car. 

I rushed down the stairs, yelling into my watch to phone Sin. It rang a few times before I heard his mumbled voice.

"Sin, we've got a fucking problem." I gulped.